Converging intelligence and media reports have revealed that the United Arab Emirates stands behind the largest deal in the history of the Israeli military industries company Elbit Systems, with an estimated value of 2.3 billion dollars. This has exposed Abu Dhabi’s financing of Israel’s most sensitive military capabilities.
According to the French outlet Intelligence Online, the deal announced by the Israeli company around a month ago and officially described as being directed to an “international client” in fact belongs to the UAE. It is the largest deal since Elbit’s establishment.
The company’s notification to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange contained no operational or geographical details, referring only to a “highly sensitive strategic solution”. This was accompanied by the imposition of a publication ban inside Israel on large parts of the agreement.
This level of secrecy is not usually applied to conventional arms export deals. It is imposed when an agreement is linked to qualitative systems that affect sensitive military or political balances, or when the purchasing party prefers not to appear publicly for reasons related to legitimacy or regional repercussions.
The Israeli economic newspaper Calcalist reported that the nature of the system underpinning the deal could reduce Israel’s military superiority in the Middle East. This indicates that the matter does not concern ordinary defensive equipment, but rather advanced systems in the fields of command and control, network integration, intelligence, and electronic warfare.
These fields form the backbone of modern Israeli military doctrine and are not usually exported except under strict political and security conditions.
The deal comes within the context of a gradual trajectory that began with the signing of normalisation agreements between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv around five years ago. Since then, cooperation has moved from the diplomatic level to a direct security partnership.
The opening of official offices for Elbit and Israel Aerospace Industries in Abu Dhabi and Dubai constituted an organisational step to facilitate this shift and allowed the UAE direct access to Israeli companies without international intermediaries.
Foreign reports indicated that Israel Aerospace Industries sold the UAE Barak MX missile batteries shortly after the normalisation agreement was signed.
Later, the Emirati EDGE Group acquired 30% of Third Eye Systems, which specialises in systems to disrupt drones and unmanned aerial vehicles.
These investments reflect a clear Emirati focus on surveillance, jamming, and low-altitude airspace control capabilities. These capabilities are used in managing irregular conflicts and not only in traditional air defence.
In parallel, Abu Dhabi sought to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the United States.
Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved the deal, it was not completed due to conditions imposed by the US administration. These included retaining the ability to remotely control the aircraft, as a precaution against the potential leakage of sensitive technologies to China.
This condition reflects the level of American concern regarding the nature of Emirati partnerships with Beijing, particularly in the fields of technology and communications.
The Emirati retreat from enthusiasm for completing the F-35 deal was met with greater openness toward Israeli alternatives, which appear less strict on technology transfer or monitoring its use. This partially explains the expansion of military cooperation with Israel, not only as an arms supplier but as a technical partner capable of providing advanced systems with a lower margin of oversight compared to the United States.
Within this context, the Elbit deal cannot be separated from the regional role played by the UAE in a number of conflict arenas. In Sudan, Abu Dhabi officially denies any direct military support, despite UN and media reports pointing to undeclared roles.
In Libya and Yemen, the UAE has relied on indirect tools to manage influence. These have included support for local formations and the use of advanced surveillance technologies. Possessing sophisticated Israeli systems reinforces this pattern of undeclared intervention.
The concealment of the UAE’s name from the deal before its later exposure indicates official awareness of the sensitivity of announcing it amid the ongoing war on Gaza and the accusations directed at Israeli companies of participating in military operations that have resulted in large numbers of civilian casualties.
Based on the available data, the deal shows that Emirati-Israeli relations have moved beyond political normalisation to the level of a deep security partnership, built on the exchange of sensitive technology and mutual investments.
This development reflects a strategic Emirati choice based on building regional influence tools that rely on Israeli technical capabilities, while reducing dependence on Western partnerships constrained by stricter political and security conditions.
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